Invisible to you

melancholy sunshine

Hello bon wee lasses or lads or ladses
⚠️ idk it's quite cute, fluff, angst, leggy sad, arry sad ⚠️
Tell me if I need to add more
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~previously~

Legolas felt a surge of emotion well up inside him, and he leaned into Aragorn's embrace, his eyes closing as he allowed himself to feel the comfort that the king was offering. Aragorn stilled in shock, staring blankly down at the elf with wide eyes.

~
3rd person PoV:

Legolas felt a surge of emotion well up inside him, and he leaned into Aragorn's embrace, his eyes closing as he permitted himself to feel the comfort that the king was offering. Aragorn stilled in surprise, gaping blankly down at the elf with wide eyes.

Unsure of how to respond to this unexpected display of vulnerability from his elven friend, the moment appeared to stretch on as Legolas grasped onto Aragorn. His clasp tight and his breathing irregular. Eventually, Aragorn's initial shock gave way to a warm understanding, and he slowly wrapped his arms around Legolas, returning the embrace. With a weak exhale, Aragorn whispered, "You don't have to be strong all the time, my friend."

The king felt the elf's shoulders relax at his words, the weight that had been resting on Legolas's shoulders for years had finally subsided, vacating from his frail form like the first feather from a newborn crow detaching itself to make space for a new, powerful feather. Like the crow, Legolas was clueless as to why it would leave him at such a time, it was as if that weight did not care that he had grown accustomed to it, that he had once felt it in the pit of his stomach, had once plunged in the form of a salty liquid as it fell from his red-rimmed eyes, that it had been the hand he held when Aragorn wasn't close enough to trace even the skin on the tip of his finger. It had been a figment of his imagination but also a portion of him that would bleed if it was removed. It had been what caused him great sorrow but also the only relation to Aragorn had had left.

It had been a prison in mind, he had been shackled to a place where he felt content and now with those chains broken, he did not know whether to stay in the place he felt he belonged or flee with those binds dangling from his wrists, rusted with age. Legolas understood he was not strong, he was not the person the king of Gondor made him out to be. He was now but a shadow of the elven warrior he once was, a worn shell discarded by the individual that maintained his movement. He was weak, it was merely the significance of his title that formed an illusion of strength.

The evidence of his weakness arrived abruptly in the form of salty tears that slid languidly from the elf's red-rimmed eyes. At first, the tears were merely silent, gliding down his rosy cheeks gently like dew sliding down a rose petal, delicate yet elegant, but as thoughts of how Legolas had spoken to Aragorn or thought of Aragorn these past months struck him so did the intensity of his sobs.

"I will never forgive you, I will never!"

"... I would rather die than experience another moment alone with you"

What had he become?

Months ago he would faint on the spot if he found out he had spoken of Aragorn with such resentment laced in his voice, yet, he had become so accustomed to shutting people away just because he couldn't bear their grating voices that felt like salt to an open wound. He had yearned for everything to turn mute even sounds he had once adored like the singing of a robin outside his window early in the morning or the rush of a waterfall, he wanted it all to be toned down until it became a dull hum in the back of his mind. So, the Prince had sought this peace with any means nessacary even if it meant shutting out those closest to him.